IntroductionA United Nations report on October 27, 2005 found that the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) had paid $US221.7million in kickbacks to the Iraqi government under the United Nations Oil-for-Food program (Whitton 2007). Acting in such a manner they cheated their shareholders out of those monies as well as damaging Australia's trade reputation. This paper will examine the environments the organization was operating in, the managerial ethical issues and corporate social responsibility. The academic theories behind each managerial issue will be identified and other relevant cases will be introduced as well in an attempt to understand the situation in greater depth and what led to such decisions being made.

Part A: The environment

A.1 ExternalFour main groups make up the specific external environment (Robbins et al, 2006), customers, suppliers, competitors and public pressure groups. "Each has a direct and immediate influence on managers' decisions and actions and is directly relevant to the achievement of the organization's goals". In this case factors in the external environment encouraged the organization to behave in an unethical way.

A.1.1 CustomersIn an unusual twist, it was the customer that was asking AWB to conduct business in an inappropriate manner. As part of the sale of wheat to Iraq, AWB was asked to pay "discharge and land transport" fees to transport wheat to silos throughout Iraq (Attorney General's Department 2006). They were informed that, should they not pay this fee, Iraq would not purchase any wheat from them. All companies exist to serve the needs of their customers. The old adage "the customer is always right" is not always true, but the seller must always behave as though it is. Generally a company will not question how the customer would like to do business, but rather go out of their way to ensure their needs are met.

A.1.2 SuppliersThe suppliers of an organization are also key to its success. For AWB, its suppliers are Australian grain growing farmers. AWB's corporate structure and constitution requires AWB to act in a manner that maximizes net returns to growers who deliver to the AWB National Pool (AWB 2006), acting more as a distributor than a traditional customer. The farmers/suppliers expect AWB to get the highest possible price for the grain they have placed in their care. The largest hurdle to success for a company is often its competitors. AWB faces competition from around the globe and every country that is producing a surplus of wheat. While this is challenging enough in and of itself, it was one of their competitors that led to the illegal payments being discovered. Canada was turned down for a wheat contract with Iraq when it refused to pay the additional fees. Iraq alluded to the fact that Australia was happy to pay them, and so should Canada (AGD 2006). This led to a complaint being filed with the United Nations regarding the payments and their eventual discovery.

A.1.3 Pressure GroupsLike many large companies, AWB faces pressures from a variety of groups encouraging environmentalism, social responsibility and other special interests. In response they have a variety of programs that give back to the community, provide international aid and show stewardship of the environment. AWB is aware of the importance of its public reputation, but apparently gave no thought to it when undertaking the activities that now see them being sued by their own shareholders.

A.1.4 General environmentThe general external environment (Robbins et al 2006) includes a variety of factors that may affect the organization. Economic conditions, political and legal conditions, sociocultural and demographic conditions and technological and global conditions should all be monitored for possible market changing affects. In respect to AWB's current position it has been the political and legal conditions that they did not account for. Neither war in Iraq has...

...Circuit Board Case Study
Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. is a circuit board manufacturer based in California. They produce circuit boards to large organizations like Apple and Hewlett-Packard. The large computer companies hire Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. (CBF) to make to circuit boards for the large companies new prototypes. CBF implements a large automated process that follows standard codes to produce these circuit boards efficiently and with above average customer service; however, recently CBF has been experiencing losses. CBF believes that the loss's the company is facing is due to the current automated system used. The CBF process engineers designed the plant has the capacity to produce 1,000 circuit boards per day; however, the plant has been producing 700. Nearly 20% of the circuit boards produced daily are defected, and CBF is not producing enough high quality boards per day to meet the consumer’s demands. The following analysis will address the process flow structure, the capacity of the process, losses of the process, short and long-term recommendations for improvement opportunities.
Flow Structure
CBF currently uses a common manufacturing process called the batch shop flow process. This process is used when a company as a stable line products. This type of flow process is commonly used within the...

...Corporate Governance
Defining The Board
In an era where women are slowly ascending in the business world, women are still overlooked as reputable pieces to the board. There is not enough diversification in the Board of Directors because of how corporate structure was originally built on a hierarchy system of men. There is an issue that arises of not enough variation in the boards that leads to stale solutions to problems in corporate world. Also, separation needs to be defined by who actually makes decision and who helps to offer solutions to the decisions that need to be made. How can women play a vital role in helping to broaden the boards ideas and input and how can management separate decision makers from those who help offer solutions?
In 2005, Peninah Thomson and Jacey Graham wrote the book, “A Woman’s Place in the Boardroom.” Peninah Thomson is a consultant for Praesta Partners, which is an executive coaching firm and Jacey Graham co-founded Brook Graham LLP, which specializes in corporate diversity management. In the book, “A Woman’s Place in the Boardroom,” Thomson and Graham take a look at how men created a hierarchy system in the corporate world and how the board is made up of men. Thomson and Graham both point out that men compete by being aggressive and exhibit competition, while women do not want to seem too ambitious because it may come off shrewd. In the book,...

...This case study is about Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. which manufactures circuit boards for several companies like Apple Computer and Hewlett-Packard to name a few. Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. plant was designed to produce 1000 boards per day but they cannot meet such production levels as their process engineer insists. On a good day, Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. is able to produce around 700boards. One will analyze and see how Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. can meet the 1000 board requirements of the process engineer. (Aquilano, Chase, Jacobs, 2006).
As a small manufacturer, Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. assembles and builds circuit boards for many different companies. Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. is used by companies such as Apple Computer and Hewlett-Packard to make boards for prototypes of new products. An important element for Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. is to be able to deliver high quality service at a fast and efficient level. In an effort to meet such challenges, Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. adheres to strict quality standards. The shipments of the circuit boards are delivered on a timely basis to their customers. In order for Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. to meet their 1000 board per day...

...QUESTION
Running late for his exciting evening law class, Sam desperately seeks out a car park in the CBD of Melbourne, state of Victoria Australia. He spots the car park operated by Citipark Ltd. Sam drives up a ramp which has raised concrete barriers on either side. As it is rush hour, there are a few cars in front of him and soon some more line up behind him.
Sam stopped his car at the barrier entrance of the car park which had a mechanical arm preventing cars moving into the parking bay unless the driver had first taken a ticket from the machine. The automatic ticket-issuing machine projected a ticket, which Sam took. Above the ticket was a large notice, which read. 'Halt ' Parking at owner's risk. Take a ticket from the machine and then pay when you leave'.
Sam put the ticket in his pocket without reading it and the barrier gate raised automatically. Sam then drove through and parked his car. When he returned to pick up his car, he found that it had been damaged by an attendant working for Citipark Car Park. The attendant was driving another car and carelessly drove into the side of Sam’s car.
The parking ticket had these words printed on the back of it. 'Conditions of parking ' It is a condition of the issue of this ticket that vehicles are parked on these premises at the owner's risk and responsibility. The proprietors of this car park accept no responsibility for loss or damage to vehicles in the parking area whether caused by negligence...

...Magazine October 2011
Wheat: The Unhealthy Whole Grain Book Excerpt: Wheat Belly
By William Davis, MD
Flip through your parents’ or grandparents’ family albums and you’re likely to be struck by how thin everyone looks. The women probably wore size-four dresses and the men sported 32-inch waists. Overweight was something measured only by a few pounds; obesity rare. Overweight children? Almost never. Any 42-inch waists? Not here. Two-hundred-pound teenagers? Certainly not. The women of that world didn’t exercise much at all. How many times did you see your mom put on her jogging shoes to go out for a three-mile run? Nowadays I go outdoors on any nice day and see dozens of women jogging, riding their bicycles, power walking—things we’d virtually never see 40 or 50 years ago. And yet, we’re getting fatter and fatter every year. I am going to argue that the problem with the diet and health of most Americans is wheat—or what we are being sold that is called “wheat.” Documented peculiar effects of wheat on humans include appetite stimulation, exposure to brain-active exorphins (the counterpart of internally derived endorphins), exaggerated blood sugar surges that trigger cycles of satiety alternating with heightened appetite, the process of glycation that underlies disease and aging, inflammatory and pH effects that erode cartilage and damage bone, and activation of disordered immune responses. A complex...

...Preliminary Biology: Topic Summary
Australian Biota
Matt Elrick
1. Evidence for the rearrangement of crustal plates and continental drift indicates that
Australia was once part of an ancient super continent
1.1 Identify and describe evidence that supports the assertion that Australia was once part of a
landmass called Gondwana, including:
- matching continental margins
- position of mid-ocean ridges
- spreading zones between continental plates
- fossils in common on Gondwanan continents including Glossopteris and Gangamopteris
flora , and marsupials
- similarities between present-day organisms on Gondwanan continents
Matching continental margins:
- The continents fit together like a jig-saw puzzle. Rocks on the opposing edges are exactly
the same.
Mid-ocean ridges and spreading zones:
- Mid-ocean ridges form the boundaries of Earths crustal plates where plates move apart.
- The plates move because lava is added to these ridges.
- New rock is found in the ridge – the further away from the ridge, the older the rock
Fossils in common on Gondwana continents:
- Fossils of Glossopteris and Gangamopteris plants have been found on all Gondwana
continents, nowhere else.
- Also, marsupials provide evidence for plate tectonics and the past existence of
Gondwana. When Australia became isolated from the rest of the world, the marsupials’
evolved and diverse species flourished. Some species of quoll and marsupial mice have
several features in common with South American...